Language School
Edgar is waiting for me as usual when I arrive at Christian Spanish Academy. I greet the secretary and head toward our table.
I walk to school each day, taking advantage of the quiet cool of the morning Antigua wakes up around me.
Edgar always passes me on his motorcycle.
He’d felt strange the first few weeks, seeing his new student walking as he flew by. He’d even stopped and offered a ride several times. But I’d insisted I enjoyed the 30-minute stroll. Even though I love the thrill of riding a motorcycle.
So, it was decided that he’d take me home after class each day so I’d not be walking in the midday heat. It was a deal I was happy to take.
I reach our table and sit opposite him, pulling my Bible. “Hey! You ready?”
He grins and pushes over the glass of water he’d already filled for me. “Are you?”
I didn’t want to go to language school.
It was something I actively fought against while being evaluated by my mission’s organization.
I already knew how to speak Spanish. Hadn’t I gone down to Guatemala for the past three summers? I’d survived so obviously I knew how to get by. Why did they want to study more?
The new members’ coordinator even tried to work with me. He offered to find a personal tutor so I could dive right into working at the school instead of spending my first six months in language school.
But that would have been the biggest mistake of my ministry.
Cheating Yourself
I’m so confident when I first arrive at CSA. They’ll see. I’m a fantastic Spanish speaker.
I’ll prove to everyone that being here was nothing more than a silly mistake. I might have a few fine-tuning issues, nothing more.
But then Edgar gives me the initial evaluation and patiently points out that I’m only at 50% fluency with some serious grammatical issues.
I’m shocked. Disappointed. But hadn’t I always been able to communicate?
Fine. Whatever.
I’ll speed through the three levels I still need to complete and will graduate in a few weeks. Tops.
How do missionaries cheat themselves out of the fullness of ministry achieved by fluency in the local language?
5 ways to cheat yourself:
- You think you already have a grasp of the language, so dismiss the idea of more study. I’ll be fine. I can get by well enough.
- You feel an urgency to dive straight into their ministry. There’s no time for language study. Isn’t this what I came here to do? I’ll pick up the language along the way.
- You try to balance part-time ministry with part-time language study during their first year. Language always suffers. I’m good enough now. I need to focus on my work. That’s what really matters.
- You get overwhelmed thinking about the amount of time needed to reach fluency, which in most cases takes 2 years or more. Is fluency really so important? I’m fine just getting by, right?
- You don’t immerse yourself in the local culture. It’s easier to have English-speaking friends. After all, they understand me better than the locals, right? It’s not just a language thing.
Benefits of Fluency
For the first few weeks at CSA, I struggled and stumbled through advanced grammar. Maybe I wasn’t as fluent as I’d thought.
Reading aloud was especially difficult, and I hardly understood a word when someone read to me.
“Maybe we could read the Bible aloud each day, just for exercise,” I’d suggested to Edgar about a month into our classes.
His face changed. Unsure. Embarrassed.
“What is it?”
He put down his marker and swallowed hard, focusing on erasing the whiteboard. “I’ve never actually read the Bible before.”
I blinked twice. He’s a teacher at a supposedly Christian Academy. Yet he’s never opened a Bible?
“Okay. That settles it.” I say. “Starting tomorrow that’s what we’ll do.”
From that point, everything changed.
I no longer obsessed with graduating as fast as possible. School in Chivoc wouldn’t start until the following year anyway. And what would be a better way to spend my time than using Bible study to gain Spanish fluency?
We could spend days pouring over scripture, Edgar drinking in the words like a child in a wonderland.
He’d grown up in a completely secular home. Never been to church, never been exposed to Scripture. And he wasn’t exactly sure he believe everything it said.
We read several chapters each day, going through Genesis, Exodus, Luke, John, Acts, Psalms and even Revelation.
We’d both read. He’d ask questions, and I’d answer. Sometimes we would get so engrossed in our debates and conversation that we wouldn’t open our grammar book for the entire day.
But my fluency improved as we read and talked and talked and talked.
The six months I spent at Christian Spanish Academy were the best investment I made in my preparation to become a missionary.
Not only was I exposed to reading, interpreting, and debating the Bible in Spanish, but I was able to reach a high level of fluency that allowed me to understand and communicate with those in my community.
Even after having a solid baseline of Spanish before arriving in the field, and even after six months of intensive practice and study, my Spanish did not reach full fluency until my second full year of living in a 100% Spanish-speaking community.
It took me at least 9 years to reach fluency:
- 4 years of high school Spanish
- 3 years of traveling to Guatemala in the summers
- 6 months of intensive study
- At least 1.5 years of full immersion
Even after six years of living in Guatemala as the only English speaker in my rural community, I still have times when I struggle understanding or communicating.
But being fluent and fully immersed has helped me reach a fullness of ministry that many missionaries never reach.
Benefits of full fluency and full immersion:
- Make true friends in my local community because there is no language barrier.
- Understand innuendos and subtext when talking to others.
- Communicate the gospel in the way that is needed in the specific circumstance.
- Attend formal meetings and understand medical or legal or professional proceedings.
- Read, write, or speak in the way that is needed in the situation, whether formal or informal.
- Have heated discussions with others, talking and listening to emotional issues.
- Identify regional accents and even adapt mine to the situation.
God was so merciful to me and gave me just what I needed to not rush through language school. My time as CSA changed from a race to the finish to my own mission field and a place to talk about God.
Don’t cheat yourself out of a full ministry. Don’t cheat those you will be ministering to.
Take the time. Learn the language. Become immersed. Become fluent.
Becoming a Missionary- Part 1: Exposure
How I became a Missionary: Part 2- Calling
How I became a Missionary: Part 3- Confirmation
How I became a Missionary- Part 3: Confirmation (cont.)
How I became a Missionary- Part 4: Spiritual Preparation
How I became a Missionary- Part 5: Professional Preparation